Here’s the scenario: you’ve finished a huge sprint. The whole team has pushed hard to get it done. There were highs, lows and a few curly bits in the middle. As usual some things did not get done, but ultimately you all worked together to pull it off. Now, everyone is exhausted and starting to think about the next item on…
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Barriers to corporate innovation and how you can overcome them
Almost every business I work with places innovation high on the agenda because everyone recognises that without it your business will stagnate, competitors will overtake you and your business will die. There seems to be a plethora of information detailing what innovation is or should look like, yet many businesses still struggle with the concept and how to make innovation…
Tips from startup titans for innovating within your business
Most people assume that it is a lack of technological innovation that kills businesses. They point to Blockbuster’s failure to account for the online streaming model as an example. The “common knowledge” is that Blockbuster didn’t innovate technologically. When Netflix and other services introduced streaming technology, Blockbuster went under. But it’s not as simple as that. Blockbuster had access to…
Five ways to build a collaborative culture in your organisation
We need collaboration to innovate. The sharing of ideas leads to more new ideas forming. From there, we build and continue to introduce new modes of thought, insights and imagination. Most see collaboration as essential to a functioning business. In fact, 86% of executives and employees point to a lack of collaboration as the main reason behind business failures. The question is how…
You either agree on creating business value, or you compete
Guest post by David Landry Former Elabor8er, David Landry has been leading significant technology and business change projects for over 30 years. The first (and some would say the most important) principle of the Agile Manifesto is a priority on satisfying customers through early and continuous delivery of valuable work. It is through the delivery of valuable work, that by…
Leading and living a ‘human-first’ culture
At Elabor8, we promise ‘the freedom to move’, and that doesn’t just apply to our customers. We want our people to also feel they can do the same. As professional coaches and advisors, each of our Elabor8ers is responsible for uplifting, and inspiring change in others, and that’s very powerful. It’s important to us that we give our people everything…
What your business can learn from the Spotify model
Many organisations aspire to become the next disruptor in their market – and following its public listing on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this year, Swedish music streaming giant Spotify is still trending as a shining example. A large part of Spotify’s success can be attributed to its business operating model, which is based on the Agile Scrum framework. While the company…
Agile is the answer to transformation –– but that won’t mean transformation will be simple
Guest post by David Landry Former Elabor8er, David Landry has been leading significant technology and business change projects for over 30 years. Agile comes with big expectations. Companies think that by applying agile ways of working, they will instantly simplify their processes and begin to deliver faster, with less people, while at the same time removing costs from the organisation.…
Amazon’s shift from presentation culture to memo culture
When you look for innovators in the modern business world, you look to Amazon. The company has made innovation its goal in everything that it does. They have to be because they need to stay ahead of customer demands. As Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos puts it: “Our customers are loyal to us right up until the second somebody offers them…
So what does a product owner actually do?
Does this scenario sound familiar? A new development team comes together to build the latest feature which is suddenly priority number #1. Grand visions are presented, slick prototypes produced, and graphs showing hockey-stick shaped growth begin to build excitement around what is to be delivered. The nicely ordered backlog is transferred from post-it notes to JIRA, and with a wave of enthusiasm…